On Tuesday evening, DraftExpress attended a Cleveland area high school scrimmage including consensus national top five junior Delvon Roe, and the rest of his St. Edward squad. The matchup was thought to be an intriguing one prior to the tip, as Roe was matched up against two 6’8 future division one post players in Warren Harding’s Damian Eargle and Chris Henderson, but Delvon stole the show and showed everyone in the gym why he is a future McDonald’s All American.

To give a little background information, the high school that Roe plays for (Lakewood St. Edward’s) has a rich basketball tradition, having produced collegiate stars such as Steve Logan, Sam Clancy, and Jawad Williams. They are a perennial powerhouse in the Cleveland area year in and year out, and this year proves no different as they are projected to be a top ten team in the state of Ohio. St. Ed’s was matched up against Warren Harding, a football hotbed, producing ex-Ohio State star Maurice Clarett and current Michigan studs Mario Manningham and Prescott Burgess.

Delvon came out right off of the tip with an explosive dunk out of nowhere in traffic, leaving fans and players alike merely shaking their heads. He continued his dominance inside with a variety of post moves, using hooks and up and unders, seemingly with counters to each move going both left and right. The junior forward attempted to display his progression in transition to small forward, or even combo forward for that matter, by showing off his vastly improved mid range jumpshot. Although his form is a bit awkward, Roe was able to consistently knock down his fifteen foot jumpers at a minimum 60% clip on the day. What was most impressive however, was the Eagle junior’s ability to start a fast break with his outlet passes. Simply put, once the ball was in Delvon’s hands for a rebound, it was already at half court within a milisecond, reminiscent of Kevin Love’s ability to throw an outlet pass, although not quite to Love’s capability.

Lindsay Davis

In the paint, Roe’s physicality proved to be too much for the athletic, but raw big men from Warren Harding. He did a great job boxing out, and establishing position on the low blocks wherever he wanted. Delvon used his 7-0 wingspan to disrupt opposing players’ shots, while also getting into the passing lanes and grabbing a couple of steals. Needless to say, it was a simply dominant performance by the Nike player in this open scrimmage.

While Roe has stated many times that he would like to eventually transition to small forward, we didn’t much in terms of ball handling out of him today, nor did we see him display any shooting ability outside of the 16 foot range. Likewise, his ability to defend on the perimeter was not shown today due to the fact that he was forced to play inside for the large portion of the scrimmage.

The King James Shooting Star AAU player does not have the upside of Greg Monroe or B.J. Mullens, as he is a 6-foot-7 power forward at the moment. College coaches are absolutely drooling over Roe however, because he was arguably the most productive player in the entire nation over the summer on the AAU circuit. No matter who King James Shooting Stars played, it was a virtual guarantee that you would get 18 points and 10 rebounds out of Mr. Roe. What makes this even more impressive is that Delvon was only 16 years old playing in the 17-U division all summer, against players one year his elder.

Recently, Roe stated that his final five schools are North Carolina, Kansas, Ohio State, Michigan, and Michigan State. Many close to the situation feel that North Carolina and Michigan are the leaders at the moment however, and the three remaining schools have a bit of ground to gain. Delvon has been quoted as saying the UNC staff told him he would play a “Marvin Williams type role”, which would fit his game perfectly. On the flip side, the major draw to Michigan appears to be the fact that Roe would be able to step in right away and be the team’s best player, along with the school’s rich academic tradition. It will be interesting to see where Roe decides upon, as it would make the most sense for him attend a school that will allow him to continue to develop is perimeter game, as that will be his eventual position at the next level due to his lack of ideal height for the power forward position.